Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship. Born in Dronrijp, the Netherlands, trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean Sea and sky. Though admired during his lifetime for his draftsmanship and depictions of Classical antiquity, his work fell into disrepute after his death, only since the 1960s has it been re-evaluated for its importance within nineteenth-century British art. Lourens Alma Tadema was born on 8 January 1836 in the village of Dronrijp in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands; the surname Tadema is an old Frisian patronymic, meaning'son of Tade', while the names Lourens and Alma came from his godfather. He was the sixth child of Pieter Jiltes Tadema, the village notary, the third child of Hinke Dirks Brouwer.
His father had three sons from a previous marriage. His parents' first child died young, the second was Atje, Lourens' sister, for whom he had great affection; the Tadema family moved in 1838 to the nearby city of Leeuwarden, where Pieter's position as a notary would be more lucrative. His father died when Lourens was four, leaving his mother with five children: Lourens, his sister, three boys from his father's first marriage, his mother had artistic leanings, decided that drawing lessons should be incorporated into the children's education. He received his first art training with a local drawing master hired to teach his older half-brothers, it was intended. Diagnosed as consumptive and given only a short time to live, he was allowed to spend his remaining days at his leisure and painting. Left to his own devices he decided to pursue a career as an artist. In 1852 he entered the Royal Academy of Antwerp in Belgium where he studied early Dutch and Flemish art, under Gustaf Wappers. During Alma-Tadema's four years as a registered student at the Academy, he won several respectable awards.
Before leaving school, towards the end of 1855, he became assistant to the painter and professor Louis Jan de Taeye, whose courses in history and historical costume he had enjoyed at the Academy. Although de Taeye was not an outstanding painter, Alma-Tadema respected him and became his studio assistant, working with him for three years. De Taeye introduced him to books that influenced his desire to portray Merovingian subjects early in his career, he was encouraged to depict historical accuracy in his paintings, a trait for which the artist became known. Alma-Tadema left Taeye's studio in November 1858 returning to Leeuwarden before settling in Antwerp, where he began working with the painter Baron Jan August Hendrik Leys, whose studio was one of the most regarded in Belgium. Under his guidance Alma-Tadema painted his first major work: The Education of the children of Clovis; this painting created a sensation among critics and artists when it was exhibited that year at the Artistic Congress in Antwerp.
It is said to have laid the foundation of his reputation. Alma-Tadema related that although Leys thought the completed painting better than he had expected, he was critical of the treatment of marble, which he compared to cheese. Alma-Tadema took this criticism seriously, it led him to improve his technique and to become the world's foremost painter of marble and variegated granite. Despite any reproaches from his master, The Education of the Children of Clovis was honorably received by critics and artists alike and was purchased and subsequently given to King Leopold of Belgium. In 1860 he befriended the Anglo-Dutch Dommersen family of artists in Utrecht In 1862 he made pencil drawings of Mrs. Cornelia Dommershuizen and one of her sons Thomas Hendrik, whose brothers were the painters Pieter Cornelis Dommersen and Cornelis Christiaan Dommersen. Merovingian themes were the painter's favourite subject up to the mid-1860s, it is in this series that we find the artist moved by the deepest feeling and the strongest spirit of romance.
However Merovingian subjects did not have a wide international appeal, so he switched to themes of life in ancient Egypt that were more popular. On these scenes of Frankish and Egyptian life Alma-Tadema spent much research. In 1862 Alma-Tadema left Leys's studio and started his own career, establishing himself as a significant classical-subject European artist. 1863 was to alter the course of Alma-Tadema's personal and professional life: on 3 January his invalid mother died, on 24 September he was married, in Antwerp City Hall, to Marie-Pauline Gressin Dumoulin, the daughter of Eugène Gressin Dumoulin, a French journalist living near Brussels. Nothing is known of their meeting and little of Pauline herself, as Alma-Tadema never spoke about her after her death in 1869, her image appears in a number of oils, though he painted her portrait only three times, the most notable appearing in My studio. The couple had three children, their eldest and only son lived only a few months dying of smallpox.
Their two daughters and Anna, both had artistic leanings: the former in literature, the latter in art. Neither would marry. Alma-Tadema and his wife spent their honeymoon in Florence, Rome and Pompeii. This, his first visit to Italy, developed his interest in depicting t
Art Gallery of Ballarat
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest and largest regional art gallery in Australia. Established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by the citizens of Ballarat, both the building and part of its collection is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and by the National Trust of Victoria; the gallery was the notable home of the original Eureka Flag and houses major collections covering the history of Australian art from the early colonial period to the present day. For the first five years of the gallery's life, the Association rented the large supper room of the Ballarat Academy of Music, now Her Majesty's Theatre, made available by Sir William Clarke, 1st Baronet; the Association worked to secure land on the site of the Government Camp and to raise funds for a permanent home for its collection. Much of the energy and the money came from James Oddie; the current building is the oldest purpose built art gallery building in Australia. Designed by Tappin and Dennehy in the Renaissance Revival architecture style as a bluestone brick and render facade and stone stairway, the foundation stone was laid by Sir William Clarke in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.
The new building was opened by Alfred Deakin on Friday 13 June 1890. The gallery is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, of which the City of Ballarat is the sole shareholder, it is administered by a board of directors. Louise Tegart is the current Director; the gallery is supported by the Art Gallery of Ballarat Foundation, which raises funds and receives donations on behalf of the gallery and by the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Association, an independent organisation which established the gallery in 1884 and gave it to the Ballaarat City Council in 1972. Membership of the Association is open to members of the public and brings with it a range of benefits, including discounts at the gallery shop and cafe and invitations to exhibition openings. A 2001 public appeal raised $2 million for expansion of the gallery; the $7 million extension by H. Troon and designed by Peddle Thorp was completed in 2001 to accommodate the expanding collection of contemporary works, temporary exhibits and gallery functions.
In addition, cast iron street gazebos based on the original were reinstated. Entry to the gallery is free, with entry fees applying only to selected special exhibitions. A $1.85 million exterior restoration project began in 2009 and was completed in 2010. The renovation resulted in the reversal of unsympathetic 1950s renovations, including paint being removed from the facade and reopening of the windows; the collection includes works from Fred Williams, Sidney Nolan, Clarice Beckett, Arthur Boyd, Rupert Bunny, William Dobell, Russell Drysdale, Rick Amor, Heinrich Bűrkel, Louis Buvelot, William Barak, Charles Conder, Thomas Flintoff, S T Gill John Glover, Joy Hester, Hans Heysen, Nora Heysen, Norman Lindsay, Howard Arkley, E. Phillips Fox, Robert Jacks, George Johnson, Frederick McCubbin, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, William Barak, George Bell, William Henry Bartlett, Charles Blackman, Merric Boyd, Michael Kmit, Arthur Boyd, John Brack, Charles Conder, Nicholas Chevalier, David Davies, Janet Dawson, Robert Hawker Dowling and Eugene von Guerard.
Note that other notable works are in the collection but the following examples are ones in the public domain and for which pictures are available. Art Gallery of Ballarat website Culture Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is a state in south-eastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's smallest mainland state and its second-most populous state overall, thus making it the most densely populated state overall. Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Australia's second-largest city. Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south,New South Wales to the north, the Tasman Sea to the east, South Australia to the west; the area, now known as Victoria is the home of many Aboriginal people groups, including the Boon wurrung, the Bratauolung, the Djadjawurrung, the Gunai/Kurnai, the Gunditjmara, the Taungurong, the Wathaurong, the Wurundjeri, the Yorta Yorta. There were more than 30 Aboriginal languages spoken in the area prior to the European settlement of Australia; the Kulin nation is an alliance of five Aboriginal nations which makes up much of the central part of the state. With Great Britain having claimed the half of the Australian continent, east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria formed part of the wider colony of New South Wales.
The first European settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, much of what is now Victoria was included in 1836 in the Port Phillip District, an administrative division of New South Wales. Named in honour of Queen Victoria, who signed the division's separation from New South Wales, the colony was established in 1851 and achieved self government in 1855; the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s and 1860s increased both the population and wealth of the colony, by the time of the Federation of Australia in 1901, Melbourne had become the largest city and leading financial centre in Australasia. Melbourne served as federal capital of Australia until the construction of Canberra in 1927, with the Federal Parliament meeting in Melbourne's Parliament House and all principal offices of the federal government being based in Melbourne. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate. At state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.
The Labor Party led Daniel Andrews as premier has governed Victoria since 2014. The personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria Linda Dessau. Victoria is divided into 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, which the state administers directly; the economy of Victoria is diversified, with service sectors including financial and property services, education, retail and manufacturing constitute the majority of employment. Victoria's total gross state product ranks second in Australia, although Victoria ranks fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne hosts a number of museums, art galleries, theatres, is described as the world's sporting capital; the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the largest stadium in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The ground is considered the "spiritual home" of Australian cricket and Australian rules football, hosts the grand final of the Australian Football League each year, drawing crowds of 100,000.
Nearby Melbourne Park has hosted the Australian Open, one of tennis' four Grand Slam events, annually since 1988. Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, dating from 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland, under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney; the first British settlement in the area known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. It consisted of 402 people, they had been sent from England in HMS Calcutta under the command of Captain Daniel Woodriff, principally out of fear that the French, exploring the area, might establish their own settlement and thereby challenge British rights to the continent.
In 1826, Colonel Stewart, Captain Samuel Wright, Lieutenant Burchell were sent in HMS Fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. The expedition landed at Settlement Point, on the eastern side of Western Port Bay, the headquarters until the abandonment of Western Port at the insistence of Governor Darling about 12 months afterwards. Victoria's next settlement was on the south west coast of what is now Victoria. Edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, John Pascoe Fawkner. From settlement, the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after, the site now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe, three weeks after Melbourne, and in 1838, Geelong was declared a town, despite earlier European settlements dating back to 1826
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Empress of India as the wife of King George V. Although technically a princess of Teck, in the Kingdom of Württemberg, she was born and raised in England, her parents were Francis, Duke of Teck, of German extraction, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of King George III. She was informally known after her birth month. At the age of 24, she was betrothed to her second cousin once removed Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, but six weeks after the announcement of the engagement, he died unexpectedly during an influenza pandemic; the following year, she became engaged to Albert Victor's next surviving brother, who subsequently became king. Before her husband's accession, she was successively Duchess of York, Duchess of Cornwall, Princess of Wales; as queen consort from 1910, she supported her husband through the First World War, his ill health, major political changes arising from the aftermath of the war.
After George's death in 1936, she became queen mother when her eldest son, Edward VIII, ascended the throne, but to her dismay, he abdicated the same year in order to marry twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. She supported her second son, George VI, until his death in 1952, she died the following year, during the reign of her granddaughter Elizabeth II, who had not yet been crowned. Princess Victoria Mary of Teck was born on 26 May 1867 at Kensington Palace, London, in the same room where Queen Victoria, her first cousin once removed, was born 48 years and two days earlier. Queen Victoria came to visit the baby, writing that she was "a fine one, with pretty little features and a quantity of hair". May would become the first queen consort born in England since Catherine Parr, her father was Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg by his morganatic wife, Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde. Her mother was Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of King George III and the third child and younger daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel.
She was baptised in the Chapel Royal of Kensington Palace on 27 July 1867 by Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury. From an early age, she was known to her family and the public by the diminutive name of "May", after her birth month. May's upbringing was "merry but strict", she was the eldest of four children, the only daughter, "learned to exercise her native discretion and tact" by resolving her three younger brothers' petty boyhood squabbles. They played with the children of the Prince of Wales, who were similar in age, she grew up at Kensington Palace and White Lodge, in Richmond Park, granted by Queen Victoria on permanent loan, was educated at home by her mother and governess. The Duchess of Teck spent an unusually long time with her children for a lady of her time and class, enlisted May in various charitable endeavours, which included visiting the tenements of the poor. Although May was a great-grandchild of George III, she was only a minor member of the British royal family.
Her father, the Duke of Teck, had no inheritance or wealth and carried the lower royal style of Serene Highness because his parents' marriage was morganatic. The Duchess of Teck was granted a parliamentary annuity of £5,000 and received about £4,000 a year from her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, but she donated lavishly to dozens of charities. Prince Francis was in debt and moved his family abroad with a small staff in 1883, in order to economise, they travelled throughout Europe. They stayed in Florence, for a time, where May enjoyed visiting the art galleries and museums, she was fluent in English and French. In 1885, the family lived for some time in Chester Square. May was close to her mother, acted as an unofficial secretary, helping to organise parties and social events, she was close to her aunt, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wrote to her every week. During the First World War, the Crown Princess of Sweden helped pass letters from May to her aunt, who lived in enemy territory in Germany until her death in 1916.
In 1886, Princess May was introduced at court. Her status as the only unmarried British princess, not descended from Queen Victoria made her a suitable candidate for the royal family's most eligible bachelor, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, her second cousin once removed and the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. In December 1891, May and Albert Victor were engaged; the choice of May as bride for the Duke owed much to Queen Victoria's fondness for her, as well as to her strong character and sense of duty. However, Albert Victor died six weeks in a recurrence of the worldwide 1889–90 influenza pandemic, before the date was fixed for their wedding. Albert Victor's brother, Prince George, Duke of York, now second in line to the throne, evidently became close to May during their shared period of mourning, Queen Victoria still favoured May as a suitable candidate to marry a future king; the public was anxious that the Duke of York should marry and settle the succession. In May 1893, George proposed, May accepted.
They were soon in love, their marriage was a success. George wrote to May every day. May married P
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. It has a unique position as an independent funded institution led by eminent artists and architects, its purpose is to promote the creation and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions and debate. The Royal Academy of Arts was founded through a personal act of King George III on 10 December 1768 with a mission to promote the arts of design in Britain through education and exhibition; the motive in founding the Academy was twofold: to raise the professional status of the artist by establishing a sound system of training and expert judgement in the arts, to arrange the exhibition of contemporary works of art attaining an appropriate standard of excellence. Supporters wanted to foster a national school of art and to encourage appreciation and interest among the public based on recognised canons of good taste. Fashionable taste in 18th-century Britain was based on continental and traditional art forms, providing contemporary British artists little opportunity to sell their works.
From 1746 the Foundling Hospital, through the efforts of William Hogarth, provided an early venue for contemporary artists in Britain. The success of this venture led to the formation of the Society of Artists of Great Britain and the Free Society of Artists. Both these groups were exhibiting societies; the combined vision of education and exhibition to establish a national school of art set the Royal Academy apart from the other exhibiting societies. It provided the foundation upon which the Royal Academy came to dominate the art scene of the 18th and 19th centuries, supplanting the earlier art societies; the origin of the Royal Academy of Arts lies in an attempt in 1755 by members of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Commerce, principally the sculptor Henry Cheere, to found an autonomous academy of arts. Prior to this a number of artists were members of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Commerce, including Cheere and William Hogarth, or were involved in small-scale private art academies, such as the St Martin's Lane Academy.
Although Cheere's attempt failed, the eventual charter, called an'Instrument', used to establish the Royal Academy of Arts over a decade was identical to that drawn up by Cheere in 1755. It was Sir William Chambers, a prominent architect and head of the British government's architects' department, the Office of Works, who used his connections with George III to gain royal patronage and financial support for the Academy in 1768; the painter Joshua Reynolds was made its first president, Francis Milner Newton was elected the first secretary, a post he held for two decades until his resignation in 1788. The instrument of foundation, signed by George III on 10 December 1768, named 34 founder members and allowed for a total membership of 40; the founder members were Reynolds, John Baker, George Barret, Francesco Bartolozzi, Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Augustino Carlini, Charles Catton, Mason Chamberlin, William Chambers, Francis Cotes, George Dance, Nathaniel Dance, Thomas Gainsborough, John Gwynn, Francis Hayman, Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Angelica Kauffman, Jeremiah Meyer, George Michael Moser, Mary Moser, Francis Milner Newton, Edward Penny, John Inigo Richards, Paul Sandby, Thomas Sandby, Dominic Serres, Peter Toms, William Tyler, Samuel Wale, Benjamin West, Richard Wilson, Joseph Wilton, Richard Yeo, Francesco Zuccarelli.
William Hoare and Johann Zoffany were added to this list by the King and are known as nominated members. Among the founder members were two women, a father and daughter, two sets of brothers; the Royal Academy was housed in cramped quarters in Pall Mall, although in 1771 it was given temporary accommodation for its library and schools in Old Somerset House a royal palace. In 1780 it was installed in purpose-built apartments in the first completed wing of New Somerset House, designed by Chambers, located in the Strand and designed by Chambers, the Academy's first treasurer; the Academy moved in 1837 to Trafalgar Square, where it occupied the east wing of the completed National Gallery. These premises soon proved too small to house both institutions. In 1868, 100 years after the Academy's foundation, it moved to Burlington House, where it remains. Burlington House is owned by the British Government, used rent-free by the Royal Academy; the first Royal Academy exhibition of contemporary art, open to all artists, opened on 25 April 1769 and ran until 27 May 1769.
136 works of art were shown and this exhibition, now known as the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, has been staged annually without interruption to the present day. In 1870 the Academy expanded its exhibition programme to include a temporary annual loan exhibition of Old Masters, following the cessation of a similar annual exhibition at the British Institution; the range and frequency of these loan exhibitions have grown enormously since that time, making the Royal Academy a leading art exhibition institution of international importance. Britain's first public lectures on art were staged by the Royal Academy, as another way to fulfil its mission. Led by Reynolds, the first president, a program included lectures by Dr. William Hunter, John Flaxman, James Barry, Sir John Soane, J. M. W. Turner; the last three were all graduates of the RA School, which for a long time was the only established art school in the Royal Academy. In 2018, the Academy's 250th anniversary, the results of a major refurbishment were unveiled.
The project began on 1 January 2008 with the appointment of David Chipperfield Architects. Heritage Lottery
Birchington-on-Sea
Birchington-on-Sea is a village in northeast Kent, with a population of around 10,000. It is part of the Thanet district and forms part of the civil parish of Birchington, it lies on the coast facing the North Sea, east of the Thames Estuary, between the seaside resorts of Herne Bay and Margate. As a seaside resort, the village is a retirement destination; the village's Minnis Bay is a family beach with attractions such as sailing, windsurfing, a paddling pool and coastal walking routes. Its three smaller beaches are surrounded by chalk cliffs, cliff stacks and caves; the village was first recorded in 1240. Its parish church, All Saints', dates to the 13th century and its churchyard is the burial place of the 19th-century Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Quex Park, a local 19th century manor house, is home to the Powell-Cotton Museum and a twelve-bell tower built for change ringing; the museum contains a large collection of stuffed exotic animals collected by Major Percy Powell-Cotton on his travels in Africa, houses artefacts unearthed in and around Birchington by his daughter, Antoinette Powell-Cotton, a keen archaeologist.
Birchington was first recorded in 1240 as Birchenton, a name derived from the Old English words'bircen tun', meaning a farm where birch trees grow. Archaeological evidence has shown the area was inhabited before the existence of the village: Roman and prehistoric artefacts have been discovered in the area, Minnis Bay was once the site of an Iron Age settlement. Archives show the village's All Saints' Church dates to around 1350. In the early 15th century, Quex Park manor house—named after the park's second owner, John Quek—was built just south of the village; the ownership of the manor passed to various families until 1770 when it was acquired by the present owners, the Powell family. In the late 17th century, the house was visited by King William III. In 1565, a report on the coast of Thanet by the commissioners of Queen Elizabeth I stated that Birchington had 42 houses and did not have an active port. Before the 19th century, the village coastline was frequented by smugglers, leading to skirmishes between them and excise officers.
Several of the older houses in the village contain cellars and bricked up tunnels, once used for storing contraband. The 1801 census recorded the village's population as 537. In the early 19th century, the Tudor Quex House had to be demolished and a replacement manor house was built in its place. In 1818, the Waterloo Tower was built on the grounds of Quex Park, it is a bell tower built by the owner of Quex Park, John Powell Powell, who had an interest in change ringing. Waterloo Tower was the first twelve-bell tower in Kent; the village was a farming community until the late 19th century, when it began to develop into a coastal resort. Birchington railway station was opened in 1863 and the Railway Hotel, now the Sea View Hotel pub, was opened in 1865. Station Road was subsequently built to serve as Birchington's main shopping street. Coast Guard cottages were built at Minnis Bay in the 1870s and the first shops appeared by the bay in 1903. Birchington-on-Sea is located at 51°22′37″N 1°18′18″E in northeast Kent, on the coast of the Thames Estuary.
The village is 14 kilometres to the east of 6 kilometres to the west of Margate. The small town of Westgate-on-Sea lies between Margate; the village is built beside four sandy bays. The village is situated on the Isle of Thanet, a separate island from mainland Kent until around two hundred years ago, when the channel in between became silted up; the area to the west of the village, between Birchington and Herne Bay, was once part of the channel and is now low-lying marshland. In the east of the village the land rises, forming chalk cliffs and cliff stacks around the beaches at Grenham Bay, Beresford Gap and Epple Bay. A sea wall stretches along the foot of the cliffs to prevent further erosion; the geology of Thanet consists of chalk, deposited when the area was below the sea. Isle of Thanet became exposed above sea-level once the English Channel broke through between Kent and France, causing the sea-level to fall; the whole of the northeast Kent coast has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The drinking water in the village is classed as being'very hard', having just over 120 mg of calcium per litre. The hardness is due to water being obtained from underground chalk sources by the water company Southern Water. In East Kent, the warmest time of the year is July and August, when maximum temperatures average around 21 °C; the coolest time of the year is January and February, when minimum temperatures average around 1 °C. East Kent's average maximum and minimum temperatures are around 1/2 °C higher than the national average. East Kent's average annual rainfall is about 728 millimetres, with October to January being the wettest months; the national average annual rainfall is about 838 millimetres. At the 2011 census, the village had 9,961 residents. There were 4,944 households, of which 43.6% were married couples living together, 13.0% were cohabiting couples. For every 100 females, there were 86.2 males. The age distribution was 6% aged 0–4 years, 13.1% aged 5–15 years, 5.1% aged 16–19 years, 28.2% aged 20–44 years, 26.4% aged 45–64 years and 21.2% aged 65 years and over.
The village had a high percentage of residents over 65, compared with the national average of 16.4%. The ethnicity of the village was predominately white, with over 95% of its residents being born in the United Kingdom and other Western European countries. About 61% of residents claimed to be C
Ajax the Lesser
Ajax was a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris. He was called the "lesser" or "Locrian" Ajax, to distinguish him from Ajax the Great, son of Telamon, he was the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War. He is a significant figure in Homer's Iliad and is mentioned in the Odyssey, in Virgil's Aeneid and in Euripides' The Trojan Women. In Etruscan legend, he was known as Aivas Vilates. Ajax's mother's name was Eriopis. According to Strabo, he was born in Naryx in Locris. According to the Iliad, he led his Locrians in forty ships against Troy, he is described as one of the great heroes among the Greeks. In battle, he wore a linen cuirass, was brave and intrepid skilled in throwing the spear and, next to Achilles, the swiftest of all the Greeks. In the funeral games at the pyre of Patroclus, Ajax contended with Odysseus and Antilochus for the prize in the footrace. In traditions, this Ajax is called a son of Oileus and the nymph Rhene and is mentioned among the suitors of Helen.
After the taking of Troy, he rushed into the temple of Athena, where Cassandra had taken refuge, was embracing the statue of the goddess in supplication. Ajax violently dragged her away to the other captives. According to some writers, he raped Cassandra inside the temple. Odysseus called for Ajax's death by stoning for this crime, but Ajax saved himself by claiming innocence with an oath to Athena, clutching her statue in supplication. Since Ajax dragged a supplicant from her temple, Athena had cause to be indignant. According to the Bibliotheca, no one was aware that Ajax had raped Cassandra until Calchas, the Greek seer, warned the Greeks that Athena was furious at the treatment of her priestess and she would destroy the Greek ships if they didn't kill him immediately. Despite this, Ajax managed to hide in the altar of a deity where the Greeks, fearing divine retribution should they kill him and destroy the altar, allowed him to live; when the Greeks left without killing Ajax, despite their sacrifices, Athena became so angry that she persuaded Zeus to send a storm that sank many of their ships.
As he was returning from Troy, Athena hit his ship with a thunderbolt and the vessel was wrecked on the Whirling Rocks. But he escaped with some of his men, managing to cling onto a rock through the assistance of Poseidon, he would have been saved in spite of Athena, but he audaciously declared that he would escape the dangers of the sea in defiance of the immortals. Offended by this presumption, Poseidon split the rock with his trident and Ajax was swallowed up by the sea. Thetis buried him. Other versions depict a different death for Ajax. In these versions, when Ajax came to the Capharean Rocks on the coast of Euboea, his ship was wrecked in a fierce storm, he himself was lifted up in a whirlwind and impaled with a flash of rapid fire from Athena in his chest, his body thrust upon sharp rocks, which afterwards were called the rocks of Ajax. After Ajax's death, his spirit dwelt in the island of Leuce; the Opuntian Locrians worshiped Ajax as their national hero, so great was their faith in him that when they drew up their army in battle, they always left one place open for him, believing that, although invisible to them, he was fighting for and among them.
The story of Ajax was made use of by ancient poets and artists, the hero who appears on some Locrian coins with the helmet and sword is this Ajax. Other accounts of Ajax's death are offered by the scholiast on Lycophron; the abduction of Cassandra by Ajax was represented in Greek works of art, such as the chest of Cypselus described by Pausanias and in extant works. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed.. "Ajax". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology; this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Ajax". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1. Cambridge University Press. P. 452
